The Uchiha clan had finally called for a meeting. It had been a long time since something like this had happened. The remaining members gathered in the clan's old meeting hall. Everyone sat in silence at first. There was tension in the air. No one had truly healed from the night of the massacre.
There were two main reasons for this gathering.
The first was Itachi.
He had killed their family, their friends, their children. He had wiped out the clan in a single night.
Now, everyone agreed on one thing: Itachi must be punished. They must hunt him down and make him repent for his deeds.
He couldn't be allowed to walk free after what he had done. The Uchiha would not wait for the village to act. Many even thought that the village itself wasn't doing anything to find Itachi in the first place. So, they would take matters into their own hands. Whether they had to search every village or mountain, they would find him. And when they did, they would make him pay.
This decision had full support. Not a single voice objected. There weren't many to object anyway.
Itachi had killed most of the police force and the authoritative decision-makers in the clan. Very few were left to look after the clan now. The others were low-level Chunin, Genin, or just civilians.
The second reason for the meeting, however, was much more complicated.
Some believed that Itachi didn't act alone. Many started questioning the village itself—especially the higher-ups.
It made sense, since they knew their clan's power best. How was it possible for a single person to wipe out half the clan by himself? Even if Itachi had awakened the Mangekyo, that was a stretch to believe.
While most hadn't seen the power of the Mangekyo with their own eyes, they had read the records. Mangekyo granted immense power; however, there was a toll as well.
So, many suspected that Itachi wasn't the only one responsible. Voices were raised, and opinions were divided. Could the Hokage or the elders have known? Could they have helped Itachi? After all, he was a member of the ANBU. Was it truly possible he carried out this mission without someone's approval?
Some of the remaining high-level members of the clan already knew there had been tension between the clan and the village. They might not have known the extent of this tension, but it was enough to turn their suspicions toward the village.
This topic divided the room.
Some believed the village was innocent; others were sure it was all part of a plan. Arguments broke out. Voices were raised. But no agreement could be reached. The only thing that brought the clan back to focus was one truth:
Itachi must answer for his crimes.
Among those sitting silently in the room was Izumi Uchiha.
She was one of the few survivors of the massacre, and in some ways, she wasn't even sure if surviving was a blessing. The man she had once loved—the boy she had trusted—was the very person who had taken everything from her. Her heart was still torn. She wanted to hate him, but a part of her still clung to the boy he used to be.
When the meeting ended, Izumi returned to the Uchiha district. As she walked through the quiet streets, she saw something in the courtyard that made her pause.
Sasuke and Kiyomi were training again.
They had been working hard every day—throwing kunai, practicing taijutsu, pushing themselves nonstop. The clan hadn't told them about the meeting. In fact, most of the adults were starting to treat the two siblings harshly. They saw Itachi's blood in their veins and couldn't look past it.
But Izumi could. She only felt pity for the siblings and the position they had been put in due to Itachi's actions.
She was one of the few who still treated them with kindness, still believed they were not to blame for their brother's actions.
As she walked closer, Sasuke noticed her and nodded before heading inside. Kiyomi, however, stayed behind. She walked over to Izumi with a tired but soft smile.
"Back from the meeting?" Kiyomi asked casually. Thanks to Izumi, they at least knew what was going on with the clan. Since they weren't part of the clan meetings anymore, no one would tell them anything.
Izumi didn't answer directly. Instead, she smiled and said, "You two are training hard again."
"We have to," Kiyomi replied, her voice firm. "We're going to catch up to him."
Izumi's smile faded just a little. She knew exactly who Kiyomi meant.
After a short pause, Kiyomi suddenly asked, "Will you teach me, Izumi-Onee? Especially genjutsu. I want to get stronger. Sasuke's already got his fire jutsu and shuriken skills. I'm no good in ninjutsu, I can only rely on my Sharingan to learn genjutsu at this point." Kiyomi asked with bated breath.
For the first time in her life, she really wanted to get stronger, but she found herself stuck. Her curse energy was too little to use her curse technique with its monstrous consumption of curse energy.
Her body was strong like Maki's; however, there was a limit there as well. She might have had some advantage back in her world, but here, almost every ninja with their chakra was almost as strong as her—if not stronger.
She couldn't do ninjutsu and had no one to teach her clan-specific genjutsu either. She truly felt stuck.
Izumi looked at her in surprise.
Kiyomi wasn't the type to ask for help easily. In fact, she had never cared much for ninja techniques or power at all. It was only recently, after what Itachi did, that this little girl had started training.
Izumi hesitated for a moment. She knew what this request really meant. The siblings were preparing to go after Itachi. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but one day… they would.
She looked into Kiyomi's eyes and finally nodded.
"Sure, I won't mind. However, you're still a little too young to learn those genjutsu. Let's wait until you're a little older, okay? Perhaps after you unlock your Sharingan." Izumi smiled as she replied. This was her way to at least delay them from going after Itachi.
Of course, no one besides Kiyomi and Sukuna knew that she had already unlocked her Sharingan—and it was at three tomoe at that.
Kiyomi didn't care, as long as she got to learn genjutsu. When it came to her Sharingan, she would reveal it any time; she just had to make sure Izumi kept it a secret.
By the time Izumi came back to her house, she was tired, her head pounding. Too many things had happened for her to remain stable anymore.
She looked into the mirror, and her eyes turned scarlet. However, it wasn't the normal Sharingan with three tomoe. No...
It was a different pattern. She had found herself opening this eye after what happened that night.
The pain of losing all those people wasn't the cause—she knew. It was the betrayal from Itachi that had led her to open these eyes.
They were Mangekyo Sharingan. She hadn't told anyone yet, and she wasn't planning to. She would use this power to find Itachi and learn the truth.
She looked at her reflection and turned her eyes off. "Why did you do it, Itachi? Where are you?"
...
Far away from the village, a man with a haggard look was standing in front of a recently burned, charred land.
His only hand remained inside his sleeve while his eyes turned crimson to find every detail left behind by the fire that had consumed this area.
And even in this burned area, his eyes found something he was looking for.
Deep slashes.
Like a Bijuu had scratched the area before blasting it off with a Bijuudama.
This person was none other than Itachi, who had been roaming around the Fire Kingdom for some time now, looking for any hint of that masked man. Either of the masked men.
The one who called himself Madara Uchiha had just vanished after that night like he had never existed. And the one who fought him—there was no clue of him. Itachi had asked around, trying to find anything on him, but there was nothing, like he was a phantom.
Nothing—until now.
Many things had happened, but maybe it was his luck, or maybe it was fate, that he stumbled onto this place, which had been completely fine until a week or so ago. Then, it had suddenly caught fire and had many deep slashes left behind.
Many shinobi used fire—this was the Land of Fire for a reason—but Itachi had seen only one person using an attack that could leave behind this kind of deep slash.
He had finally found something regarding that other masked person. The one who killed Shisui.
"Huh... finally found you." Just then, he heard a voice from behind him.
Looking behind, he found a man with half of his face covered with a mask and green eerie eyes, a scratched Takigakure headband indicating he was a rogue ninja.
"You have a hefty bounty on you, Itachi Uchiha..."
xxx
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